All-welded wire spoke wheels have been in existence for well over 15 years. These are wheels whose spokes are welded at their outer ends to an annular rim and at their inner ends to a hub. The hub includes a central tube and a cap having an axially directed flange at each end of the hub. The inner ends of the spokes are positioned and welded between the edges of the caps and the ends of the tube. Examples of such wheels are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,251,978 and 3,431,025.
Heretofore, such wheels have been seriously disadvantaged because they can only be used to mount solid rubber tires. Consequently, the wheels can only be used for baby carriages, small tricycles and the like. It is not possible to use such prior solid tire wheels on the larger balloon tire bicycles which are so prevalent today. The reason for this is that, in order to mount a pneumatic tire on a wheel rim, the inner edges of the tire must end in circular beads which interfit with beads or flanges at the opposite edges of the so-called hook bead rim. This is necessary in order to enable the tire to contain an inflated innertube.
However, it has not proven feasible or practical to form the annular rim of such welded spoke wheels with the flanges or beads necessary to secure the tire. Past attempts to do this have resulted in defective wheels whose spokes are not properly welded to the rim or wheels which are unduly expensive and therefore not competitive in the marketplace with conventional non-welded spoke wheels for pneumatic tires. Thus despite all of the years such welded spoke wheels have been available and in use, no one has been able to adapt them economically to fit pneumatic tires.